LYLE – Linda Draper’s freshman English class at Lyle High School has produced a second poet.

Tuesday, April 18, 2000

LYLE – Linda Draper’s freshman English class at Lyle High School has produced a second poet.

Earlier this year, Jolynn Winkel learned she would have a poem of her’s published.

Now, it’s Ashley Allen’s turn for recognition.

Allen, 15, is a semi-finalist in the 2000 dot.com Poetry Contest. Her poem "My Cat!" is under consideration for one of the contest’s grand prizes and the chance to be published.

Like her classmate, Winkel, her prize-winning poem is a first-time effort.

"I was surprised," Allen said, "I was at home with my cat and just decided to write a poem about her. I didn’t think I would win anything."

Winkel, 16 and the daughter of Eldon Bette Winkel, Lyle, wrote a poem entitled "A Millionaire." It was inspired by the popular ABC television series "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?"

Allen’s prize-winning effort was inspired by a household pet.

The students’ English teacher, Draper, also encouraged the students to use their skills and enter competition to be recognized.

Allen’s father, Jeff, is a truck driver. Her mother, Patty, is a nurse’s assistant at Sacred Heart Care Center.

She has one brother, Jeff Jr., 18 and a 1999 graduate of LHS and a sister, Crystal, 17, an LHS junior.

Her brother, Jeff, is an important part of his sister’s success.

"My brother found the cat along the gravel road, when it was only a kitten," Allen said. "He brought it home, because he didn’t want it to get run over, but we couldn’t find any owner to claim it so we kept it."

The cat, which the aspiring poet named "Midnight," soon became the student’s favorite pet in a household that had others.

One day last winter, Ashley and her mother, Patty, were home alone in the living room of their rural Lyle house.

Her mother busied herself with other things, but Ashely was focused on Midnight, who was, as cats can only do, performing.

"He was playing with some tiny balls attached to bells and I watched her and started writing about what I saw," she said.

Here’s what the teenager saw in the form of her original poem:

"She’s nothing much but fur

And two round eyes of green

She has a little purr

And a great big MEOW.

She darts and pats the air

She starts and pricks her ear

When there is nothing there

For her to see and here.

She runs around in circles

But why we cannot tell

With sideways leaps she springs

At things that aren’t even there.

Then half-way through a leap

Her startled eyeballs close.

She falls to the floor

With one paw on her nose."

The teenager has written other poems; mostly about life and feelings.

She also enjoys corresponding with her grandmother, who lives at Lake City.

When she finishes her education, she plans to become an elementary school teacher.

For pleasure, she enjoys reading poetry, but she said "Only the really good stuff."

Ironically, it didn’t take any rewrites and only a little editing from her English teacher, Draper, to complete an effort worth submitting to the judges.

"It’s exactly the same as the one I wrote the day I saw Midnight play," she said.